Skipping Stones
by petrichorister
Summary: Before she sets out to defeat Mercer Frey, there's someone Roscura needs to talk to.


**AN:** Just a little one-shot I wrote. I've had this scene in my head for a while and finally got around to writing it down.  
 **Disclaimer:** Skyrim (and Rune) belong to Bethesda. Roscura is my original character.

* * *

The sun is setting as the footsteps approach. Roscura swings her legs under the dock, not even bothering to look up.

"Thought I'd find you here."

She shrugs half-heartedly as Rune sits down beside her. She plucks another stone from her pile, turns it over in her hand, and tosses it out onto the lake in front of her. It skips three times before sinking without ceremony.

Rune's quiet for a few minutes as she tosses a few more stones. She'll have to tell him something soon, she knows that, but he won't push her. She's grateful for that much.

"So…" His voice was soft as he started. "You're back."

"Mmhmm."

"You know where to find Mercer now."

"Mm."

"You changed."

That takes her aback. She looks up at him hesitantly, searching for a clue on his face, but he's staring out at the lake, just like she was moments ago.

"Hmph," she snorts as she picks up another stone and tosses it to the water. "Getting stabbed does that to a girl."

"I guess so." He says it matter-of-factly, like it's the simplest thing in the world. "I just… I wish I could have… you know."

"I know," she murmurs. "But you couldn't. It's between me and Mercer now."

He's quiet another moment as she turns over another stone in her hand. It's small, and smoothed to a sphere, and not good for skipping. It'll plunk in the same water that wore it down its entire life.

She tosses it anyways.

"Ros, if I'd been there," Rune starts again, "I'd've killed him. I'd have stabbed that lying sack of-"

"He'd have killed you first. He killed Gallus, and he would've killed me if Karliah hadn't thought faster than he had."

Rune shifts. "Yeah. But I woulda tried. I can't believe I _trusted_ that man. I did!" His voice is rising now. "After what he did to the Guild- to _you_ \- gods, Ros-"

Roscura realizes she's never once seen Rune angry before. Not when he returned from a job gone bad empty-handed. Not when letter after letter came back negative when she'd urged him to keep looking for clues about his past. Not when she came back to the Guild trailing behind Karliah.

Not until now.

When she looks back at him, his brow is scrunched together in concentration, his jaw set in fury. He still stares out onto the lake, before he turns and mutters a curse under his breath.

"You're gonna kill him when you find him." He's quiet again, but his voice is quivering. "When you go looking for him, you'll kill him."

"Yeah," she mumbles. "I don't want to. I'd rather let Karliah do it. I've only done it once or twice in self-defense against a bandit, and… it doesn't feel right. I don't like doing it."

"But Mercer deserves it."

She just nods, unable to say for certain whether or not she agrees. She does. She doesn't. But she _does_.

"I want to be there when you do it."

"Rune, no." He turns back to look at her, and she can see how much the words pain him. "It's between me and Mercer. Karliah and Bryn will be there with me."

He scrunches his brow again, not in anger this time. "Ros, I lost you once. I can't do that again."

She snorts before picking up another stone- only there are none left to throw. " 'm not much to lose."

"Don't say that." His voice cracks. "When Mercer said you'd died, I- I believed him. I thought…" He sighs, and Roscura can only sit and wait. "I thought the world was ending. I really did."

"You know there's no future with me," she says, trying to keep her voice steady. "No happy little farmhouse with kids running around. There can't be."

"And? When have either of us wanted a farmhouse?"

"It's not whether or not we _want_ it. It's about options. We _can't_." She looks at her lap. "I can't."

Rune leans forward, his arms leaning on his knees. "You've never once mentioned any of this. Do you _want_ that kind of life?"

"No," she says, and honestly at that. "But kids were an option before, and now they're not. When Mercer stabbed me, he… I…"

She pauses as she collects herself. She's never once thought this would matter to her, not until now. It didn't bother her when she'd realized she hadn't gotten her moonblood since the incident. It didn't bother her when Karliah had given her condolences. But, for some reason, telling this to Rune, realizing that the choice has been taken from _both_ of them… it bothers her now.

"Well, I could have before, and now I can't. And that's that."

She wrings her hands in her lap as she waits for him to respond. They've never once discussed this; it's always been assumed they _didn't_ need children running around the sewers. Daedra below, they didn't even realize how long this affair of theirs would last until just before she'd left for Snow Veil Sanctum. Relationships in the Guild rarely last that long.

But, still. It's frightening.

Rune's hand moves out to take hers. "Ros, I'm sorry. Gods, if I was angry before…" He shakes his head, and her hand squeezes his tighter. "But, for whatever it's worth, we'd make _terrible_ parents anyways."

For the first time in what feels like a very long time, Roscura laughs. " _What_?"

"Well, look at us. We're _thieves_ , for one. We live in the sewers; we come and go at all hours of the night and sleep through the day." He smiles at her. "You've been a street rat long as I've known you, I don't even know who I am, and, honestly, I don't think either of us know how to cook. The poor things'd starve to death."

Roscura laughs again, and Rune relaxes next to her. He's right, and she knows it.

"You haven't smiled since you got back."

"I haven't really felt like smiling much. Not since… well, you know." She leans her head against his shoulder, and his arm moves to wrap around her back.

"What I'm trying to say, Ros, is… it's just that…" He sighs again. "Whatever future you have is what I want. If that's with the Guild, I'll stay here with you 'til the end. If it's running away to Morrowind, I'll run right alongside you."

"There's an idea."

"Ros, I'm serious. Wherever you are, that's where I want to be, whether it's Riften, or a farm, or anywhere in Tamriel." His voice is quiet once more, and his hand strokes her hair absently. "I'm not going to lose you again."

She wraps one arm around his waist, pulling herself closer, letting herself feel his embrace. She takes in a deep breath, smelling his scent of salt and leather, and she knows he's telling the truth. A feeling grows in the pit of her stomach.

 _Safe_.

That's what she feels with his arms around her. It's what he's always made her feel, but it hadn't meant as much before. She's never needed this feeling as much as she does now.

"Rune?" she says as his hand squeezes her shoulder. "Thank you."


End file.
